High Cheese

First baseman Ryan Howard has signed a five-year contract extension with a sixth-year club option with the Phillies that could take him through the 2017 season, the Phillies announced.

The deal guarantees Howard $125 million over five years and could reach $138 million over six years.

The five-year extension will pay Howard $20 million in each of the 2012 and 2013 seasons and $25 million per year from 2014-16.

The club option is worth $23 million with a $10 million buyout.

The extension includes awards bonuses and a limited no-trade provision.

For some perspective, Howard's $20 million salary in 2012 is $6 million more than the entire Phillies payroll for the 1990 season.

Howard will become the highest paid player in franchise history. In 2012 and 2013, the Phillies will be paying Howard and pitcher Roy Halladay a salary of $20 million each.

Howard's salary for this season is $19 million and is $20 million next season.

Howard, 30, is hitting .275 with three home runs and 16 RBI this season and has started all 18 of the Phillies’ games thus far.

The Phillies now have six players under contract for 2012 (Howard, Halladay, Joe Blanton, Placido Polanco, Carlos Ruiz, Shane Victorino and Chase Utley) and three for 2013 (Utley, along with Howard and Halladay).

Howard, general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. and manager Charlie Manuel are scheduled to have a press conference at 7:30 p.m. Eastern in San Francisco before the Phillies face the Giants.

Here is some background from the press release:

In his major league career, Howard has won the National League Rookie of the Year and MVP awards in successive seasons (2005-06), is a two-time NL All-Star (2006, 2009), won a Silver Slugger Award (2006) and was named MVP of the National League Championship Series last year. In his MVP season of 2006, Howard set a Phillies single-season record with 58 home runs and is the all-time franchise leader in postseason RBI (27).

Since becoming an everyday player on July 1, 2005, Howard leads all major league players in home runs (222) and RBI (650). Last season, Howard became just the fourth player in major league history to have four straight 40 home run/130 RBI seasons, joining Hall of Famer Babe Ruth (7), Ken Griffey Jr. (4) and Sammy Sosa (4), and the fastest player ever to 200 home runs (658 games), besting Ralph Kiner’s previous record by 48 games.

Originally selected by the Phillies in the fifth round of the 2001 draft, Howard enters play tonight with a career .279 batting average, 225 home runs and 656 RBI in 750 games, all with Philadelphia. He currently ranks in fifth place on the Phillies’ all-time home run list, behind Mike Schmidt (548), Del Ennis (259), Pat Burrell (251), and Chuck Klein (243). His .583 slugging percentage is the best in club history.

Published: April 26, 2010 — 2:31 PM EDT
Philadelphia Daily News

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